I apologize for the lack of posting of late; I've been busy with a new job, and I don't know what's going on with the other regular contributors. I'll check into it.

In the meantime, here are a number of articles from other sources that I've been meaning to discuss. They're all worth your time to read.

The Tax Threat to Prosperity by Arthur Laffer, The Wall Street Journal
The venerable economist most notable for the introduction of the Laffer curve discusses the relationship between the change in the top 1% of wage earners' incomes and the change in the effective tax rate. His research comes to a commonly-held conclusion: that changes in the real wages of the super rich are not reflected in changes in tax revenues, i.e. that if Bill Gates wealth increases by 10%, he does not actually pay 10% more in taxes. It's an excellent discussion of the practical problems of the popular "tax the rich" theory for raising government revenue, and proposes alternative solutions.

Tax the Rich, Starve the Poor by Daniel Obrycki and Rafael Resendes, RealClearMarkets
These two co-founders of a capital markets research firm have done their homework on the respective economic policies of both Republicans and Democrats, and give detailed mathematical analysis as to their effects on the market. It's a startling indictment of Democratic economic policies, without using any rhetoric or propagandizing.

Berkeley, CA City Council OKs Crackdown for Parks, Sidewalks by Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Gate
In what can only be termed a double-whammy of collectivist liberalism, Berkeley is seeking to crackdown on offensive behavior in public places such as parks and sidewalks. This includes lying down on the sidewalk and yelling. Senior citizens and social workers will "patrol" public areas watching for wrongdoers. (I'm not making this up.) However, as this may upset the city's homeless population, they have provided free counseling for the homeless to help them transition into this new law.

Government Report: More Military Deaths in Some Years of Peace than War, FOX News
An interesting study has found that during some years of peace, such as 1981-82, have had more military deaths than years of war (such as 2005-06, one of the bloodiest times for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). The report is a reminder that even the "death toll" of casualties we see today pales in comparison to the wars fought by our fathers and grandfathers.

As an example, in the five years of the entire Iraq War, there have been 3,974 confirmed casualties (DoD). On one day in WWII (June 6, 1944), there were nearly 5,100 US military casualties.

By comparison, modern warfare seems almost humane.

Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming "Greatest Scam in History" by Noel Shepperd, NewsBusters
Not that one metereologist has the capacity to make such a claim, but he has more ground than the veritable Mr. Gore.

Militant Group Out of Baghdad by Damien Cave, The New York Times

This is an interesting one. The NYT reported in November that al-Qaeda was "routed ... from every neighborhood in Baghdad ... allowing American troops involved in the 'surge' to depart as planned."

Of course, the article was buried in the Mid-East section of the paper. It didn't appear on the front page or in the News section.

Labels: General Politics, News and Current Events